Calvert Racing Suspensions' CalTracs System Install - The Hookup

If you've been following the B-3 project, you know that we originally built this '67 Barracuda to run ten second elapsed times, on a budget of under ten thousand dollars. Having accomplished that goal, we've decided to upgrade the car and see just how quick we can go without cutting the car for larger back tires. Last month we installed new CAP Auto tubular suspension components up front, and this month we'll freshen up our "Wedged to the Max" 500-inch Indy headed big-block and put it in the Barracuda. To get our Barracuda to hook up with this additional power and torque, we knew we'd need the best bolt-in suspension components available for our A-Body, so we called Calvert Racing Suspensions and ordered their CalTracs system for our car.

The engine we'll be installing in our Barracuda is a 500 cubic inch 440 with Indy SR cylinder heads that we built some time ago in our "Wedged to the Max" project. With a big roller cam and 12.5:1compression, this engine makes more than 750 horsepower and has a bunch of torque, so it should really test our Barracuda with its bolt-in suspension components and relatively small tires. Since the engine had some 400 passes on it though, we decided to disassemble and inspect it before dropping it in. Fortunately, our tear-down and inspection revealed no real engine damage, so we visited Summit Racing Equipment's website and ordered all necessary items to overhaul our big-block.

Since our engine was so clean, we simply honed the cylinders to break the glaze, and installed Total-Seal file fit piston rings. The only problem with the crankshaft was an area on the thrust surface where the thrust bearing was showing some wear. We sent the crankshaft to Auto Performance Engines and had it repaired, then installed Federal-Mogul FEM-119,